Lotteries have existed in various forms throughout the world for hundreds of years. Typical modern lottery formats often involve the selection by a customer or entrant of a predetermined quantity of lottery numbers (e.g., from a range of numbers) such as by writing such numbers down on a paper form which is submitted to a store clerk. Once the lottery ticket is paid for, such numbers are then entered into a machine which prints, on a second piece of paper, a lottery ticket which is issued to the lottery customer. Lottery winners in such conventional lotteries are eventually chosen by a lottery administrator which—via one or more conventional methods—draws or randomly selects winning numbers which an entrant must have selected, and thereby have a paper ticket with numbers matching the winning numbers, to win the lottery prize. If the lottery ticket is lost, the contestant—even if he or she were a winner—would be unable to collect his/her prize. In such lottery types, because the contestant is able to choose whatever numbers he or she desires, multiple winners may result in a given lottery draw (i.e., which necessitates prize sharing). Conversely, because there is no guarantee that the numbers drawn will precisely match any set of numbers chosen by a lottery contestant, a given lottery draw may result in no winner at all.
In a popular second type of lottery format, paper tickets are sold to lottery customers which are a scratch-off type or variety. With such a lottery ticket, often the ticket is predetermined as either a winner or a loser and the customer discovers the “result” of the ticket by scratching or rubbing off an opaque film which conceals whether the ticket is a winning or losing ticket. Because of the simplicity of their design and implementation, there are often a large variety of scratch-off lottery ticket types which compete with one another.
As most conventional lottery types employ paper tickets, not only does the printing of massive numbers of throw away tickets have an environmental impact, but it also requires substantial financial expenditure by the lottery provider to design, print, store, and ship the tickets to large numbers of geographic locations.
Moreover, despite certain benefits of lotteries such as when portions of profits are used to fund local governments or charities, there are certain social stigmas associated with lotteries because of their possible impact among those susceptible to gambling addiction, for example. Further, often those people in the least wealthy social classes are the persons purchasing the most lottery tickets.
Finally, there has been a decline in the popularity of lotteries in recent years (at least in certain markets and countries) possibly due to lack of excitement or enthusiasm associated with conventional lottery types. In this regard, the public has arguably become sensitized to the conventional lottery formats and therefore does not participate in lotteries in historically high numbers.
Recognizing the above-described drawbacks of conventional lottery types, certain needs in the lottery arts have been identified by the inventors of the application for patent contained herein. Similar needs have been identified related to games and sweepstakes, as well as in relation to systems, technologies, and/or methods pertaining to lotteries, games, and sweepstakes. For the purposes of this application, such terms (“lotteries”, “games”, and “sweepstakes”) may be and are used interchangeably, and the use of one term is not intended to exclude the others from its scope, absent an explicit identification of an intent to do so (if any). Therefore, a new technology or ticket described with respect to a “lottery”, for example, is equally applicable to a “game” or “sweepstake”, unless otherwise specifically stated.
These needs in the arts include, for example, a need for new lottery or game types which elicit greater participation by lottery contestants. As other examples, there is a need for lottery (or game) types with reduced environmental impact and/or which are less expensive and cumbersome to administer. Furthermore, there is a need for lottery or game types which permit or allow the monitoring of individual ticket purchase (or other lottery or game participation) habits as well as entrant demographics (e.g., to permit or at least aid in government regulation or legal compliance of lotteries). As a final but non-limiting example, there is a need for lotteries or games which can be administered quickly and without requiring significant advance preparation or planning. For example, it would be desirable to have a game (or sweepstakes or lottery) which could be administered contemporaneously with a live event, such as a sporting match or a music performance.
In view of the above-enumerated drawbacks and/or needs or desires for improvements in the arts, it is a purpose of the herein described invention to address one or more of such drawbacks and/or desires as well as, or in the alternative, other needs which will become more apparent to the skilled artisan once given the present disclosure.